The Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) enables vulnerable sectors and populations to better manage climate variability and adapt to climate change. How? By developing and incorporating science-based climate information into planning, policy and practice. The GFCS places the decision context and information needs of “users” at the centre of the design process.

The climate science community can play an important role in addressing public health challenges. Many human diseases and health conditions are sensitive to changes in temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and other environmental conditions such as air and water quality. Climate information can thus be used as a sign of risk and to inform disease monitoring and health research. In some cases, it can be used to predict when and where disease outbreaks may occur, in relation to expected climate conditions.

In the ten years since the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3) and the development of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), climate services have been recognized as critical to society for making decisions on how to cope with climate variability and change. Implementation of the GFCS uncovered large gaps in climate service competency across all WMO Regions, particularly in less developed countries.

In 2016, El Niño-driven weather patterns significantly contributed to causing an intensification of global food insecurity. An analysis of the 2016 El Niño event, which affected more than 60 million people worldwide, revealed that a major part of the exposed population was uninformed and unprepared for the pronounced climate anomalies.